# Operation Snatch

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Operation_Snatch
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Operation_Snatch.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snatch
> Source revision: 1339319212
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|1962 British film by Robert Day}}
{{Hatnote|For "Operation Snatch", the seizure of Doukhobor children by Canadian authorities, see [Freedomites](/source/Freedomites)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Operation Snatch
| image          = File:Operation Snatch.jpg
| caption        = 
| director       = [Robert Day](/source/Robert_Day_(director))
| producer       = [Jules Buck](/source/Jules_Buck)
| writer         = [Alan Hackney](/source/Alan_Hackney)<br/>Len Heath<br/>[John Warren](/source/John_Warren_(actor))
| story          = Paul Mills
| starring       = [Terry-Thomas](/source/Terry-Thomas)<br/>[George Sanders](/source/George_Sanders)<br/>[Lionel Jeffries](/source/Lionel_Jeffries)<br/>[Jocelyn Lane](/source/Jocelyn_Lane)
| music          = [Ken Jones](/source/Ken_Jones_(music))
| cinematography = [Geoffrey Faithfull](/source/Geoffrey_Faithfull)
| editing        = Bert Rule
| distributor    = Regal Films International {{small|(UK)}}
| released       = {{Film date|1962|03||UK|df=y}}
| runtime        = 87 min.
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
| budget         = 
}}

'''''Operation Snatch''''' (also known as '''''Top Secret''''' <ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Operation Snatch |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150013019 |access-date=9 February 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref>) is a 1962 British [comedy film](/source/comedy_film) starring [Terry-Thomas](/source/Terry-Thomas) and [George Sanders](/source/George_Sanders) and directed by [Robert Day](/source/Robert_Day_(director)).<ref name="BFIsearch" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/09/25/archives/screen-terrythomas-and-slapstick-gibraltar-is-setting-of-operation.html |title=Screen: Terry-Thomas and Slapstick; Gibraltar Is Setting of 'Operation Snatch' Picture Pits Comedian Against a Thin Plot |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |author-link=Bosley Crowther |date=25 September 1962 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=5 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6951bfc6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217065740/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6951bfc6 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 February 2017 |title=Operation Snatch (1962) |website=[BFI](/source/BFI) |access-date=5 May 2018}}</ref> It was written by [Alan Hackney](/source/Alan_Hackney), Len Heath and [John Warren](/source/John_Warren_(actor)) from a story by Paul Mills.

==Plot==

The story takes place in [Gibraltar](/source/Gibraltar), and is based on a local legend: if the resident [Barbary ape](/source/Barbary_ape)s were ever to leave, the British would lose [Gibraltar](/source/Gibraltar). This wartime comedy has Terry-Thomas as the keeper of the apes. When one of the apes goes missing, he is required to go behind enemy lines to capture another one, or be personally responsible for the loss of Gibraltar.

==Cast==
* [Terry-Thomas](/source/Terry-Thomas) as Lieutenant Wigg
* [George Sanders](/source/George_Sanders) as Major Hobson
* [Lionel Jeffries](/source/Lionel_Jeffries) as Evans
* [Jocelyn Lane](/source/Jocelyn_Lane) as Bianca Tabori
* [Mark Eden](/source/Mark_Eden) as Mosquito pilot
* [Mario Fabrizi](/source/Mario_Fabrizi) as Tall Man 
* John Gabriel as Major Frink 
* [Gerard Heinz](/source/Gerard_Heinz) as Colonel Waldock 
* [Bernard Hunter](/source/Bernard_Hunter) as Captain Baker 
* [Dinsdale Landen](/source/Dinsdale_Landen) as Captain Wellington 
* [Howard H. Lang](/source/Howard_Lang) as P.T. Sergeant 
* [Angus Lennie](/source/Angus_Lennie) as Vic 
* [Jeremy Lloyd](/source/Jeremy_Lloyd) as Captain James 
* [John Meillon](/source/John_Meillon) as medical officer
* [Warren Mitchell](/source/Warren_Mitchell) as contact man
* [Lee Montague](/source/Lee_Montague) as Miklos Tabori 
* [Nyree Dawn Porter](/source/Nyree_Dawn_Porter) as W.R.A.C. officer
* [John Scott](/source/John_Scott_(actor)) as Lieutenant General Hepworth 
* [Mark Singleton](/source/Mark_Singleton_(actor)) as Prime Minister's secretary
* [Graham Stark](/source/Graham_Stark) as soldier
* [Michael Trubshawe](/source/Michael_Trubshawe) as Colonel Marston 
* [James Villiers](/source/James_Villiers) as Lieutenant Keen 
* [Ian Whittaker](/source/Ian_Whittaker) as Dyson
* [Ronnie Corbett](/source/Ronnie_Corbett) appears in an uncredited role disguised as a Gibraltar Rock Ape

==Production==
Finance was raised on the strength of Terry Thomas' name and a rough outline, due to the actor's popularity in America. Terry Thomas said "It seems I am just at the moment a 'thing.’ They are intrigued by me. They haven’t got anything like me, I don’t think it’s only my accent. Perhaps my face?”<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Production|magazine=Kinematograph Weekly|date=28 September 1961|url=https://archive.org/details/KineWeekly2817/page/n14/mode/1up|page=16|first=John|last=Champ}}</ref>

==Reception==
''[The Monthly Film Bulletin](/source/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin)'' wrote: "Clumsy British farce, in which a badly directed Terry-Thomas endeavours to extract laughs from a wan script which pins its faith in jokes about monkeys, bananas, thickly-accented spies and fatuous British espionage agents."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1962 |title=Operation Snatch |volume=29 |issue=336 |pages=54 |id={{ProQuest|1305823317}} |magazine=[The Monthly Film Bulletin](/source/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin)}}</ref>

''The [Radio Times](/source/Radio_Times) Guide to Films'' gave the film 3/5 stars, calling it "enjoyably daft," writing: "There are too many stock characters, but this does have several ridiculously funny scenes."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[Immediate Media Company](/source/Immediate_Media_Company) |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=689}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{section link|Barbary macaques in Gibraltar|Legend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0056311|title=Operation Snatch}}

{{Robert Day}}

Category:1962 films
Category:1962 comedy films
Category:British comedy films
Category:British black-and-white films
Category:Films shot at Associated British Studios
Category:British World War II films
Category:Films directed by Robert Day
Category:Films shot in Gibraltar
Category:Military comedy films
Category:1962 English-language films
Category:1962 British films
Category:Films scored by Ken Jones
Category:English-language comedy films

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Operation Snatch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snatch) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snatch?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.